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Canadian authorities on lookout for terrorists

Federal security agencies are on the lookout for several veteran terrorists amid concerns they might try to slip into Canada during the evacuation from Lebanon.

At least two senior terror suspects with Canadian citizenship were living in Lebanon when fighting broke out two weeks ago between Hezbollah and the Israeli defence forces.

Kassem Daher, an alleged extremist recruiter from Leduc, Alta., and former Toronto resident Fawzi Ayub, a Hezbollah operative, were among the 50,000 Canadians living in Lebanon.

Stockwell Day, the Public Safety Minister, has asked the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to ensure they do not return.

"One of my first discussions once the evacuation began was, certainly we want to assist those who desperately need to get out," Mr. Day told the National Post. "But I made it clear in our discussion with our CSIS and CBSA officials that clearly we have to be on the alert for those who might try to take advantage of our humanitarian impulses."

Mr. Daher, who was born in Lebanon, is a former Alberta cinema owner who intelligence authorities have identified as a member of Asbat al-Ansar, an al-Qaeda-linked faction.

He is accused of running a terrorist support network based in the Edmonton area that used a Muslim charity as a cover for his alleged activities as an extremist fundraiser and recruiter.

The man, who is also wanted by the United States, had been living under house arrest at his mansion in the Bekaa Valley town of Karaoun with his wife and Canadian-born children.

Also believed to be living in South Lebanon was Fawzi Ayub, a member of Hezbollah's elite terrorist unit, Islamic Jihad.

After taking part in a hijacking in Romania that left dozens dead, Mr. Ayub immigrated to Canada. He was later reactivated by Hezbollah, which gave him a new identity and sent him on assignment to Israel.

He was arrested in the West Bank town of Hebron in 2002, but two years ago he was sent back to Lebanon as part of a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has had an active presence in Canada for more than 15 years. Canadian operatives have engaged in everything from auto theft to procurement of materiel. The network dissipated after Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but the resurgence of violence has the Jewish community worried.

Canadians leaving Lebanon are being asked for identity documents that are being screened against police, intelligence and immigration watch lists.